The Tiny Trade-School Ivy Outperforming Top Four-Year Colleges

In a suburb less than 10 miles south of downtown Pittsburgh, massive garage doors retract to reveal an aircraft hangar almost as large as a football field. The morning sun lands on a group of eight or so decommissioned aircraft, an aeronautical infirmary whose patients range from obsolete military planes to old private civilian jets. One resident is a twin-engine Beechcraft D50, whose exposed bones are being operated on meticulously by students who are graded by the ten-thousandth of an inch. Closest to the runway is a gray Bell JetRanger helicopter, whose engine had until recently been left idle for four years.

“A few students came to us and wanted to see if they could get it up and running again,” says Jason Pfarr, the academic dean of the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics (PIA), a two-year private aircraft maintenance school whose 90-year history traces its roots to Orville Wright himself. “I said, look, if they want to do it, why not?”

Suzanne Markle is the president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics, the Harvard of trade schools. Jamel Toppin

In a job market that is only getting more competitive for the growing number of bachelor’s holders, an exemplary institution like PIA is exactly what’s needed by many students who aren’t thrilled by the prospect of spending another four years reading Shakespeare or grinding away at calculus. A top-tier trade school is a better option for lots of high school grads than either community college or a middling four-year program. Both of those paths can leave students mired in debt while pursuing a marginally practical degree.

“Higher ed hasn’t thought about what the endgame is for students,” says PIA president and CEO Suzanne Markle, whose buoyant demeanor reveals flashes of intensity. “That’s all we think about. Bachelor’s degrees and other terminal degrees are great … if you know what you want to do, and if there’s a need for it.”

For PIA, which has a near 100% acceptance rate, that endgame is getting its students jobs in the expanding aviation industry. With top-notch equipment that includes about a dozen aircraft and over 40 engines, the school’s Pennsylvania training ground puts students through a rigorous hand-on associate degree program in either aviation maintenance or electronics. Through a special exemption granted to PIA, participants in the seven-quarter maintenance program can, before they graduate, take eight of the nine Federal Aviation Administration certification tests necessary to maintain planes. That’s enough to get 87% of PIA’s students jobs within six months of graduation.

And they are high-paying affairs. Four years after graduation PIA alumni earn a median of $42,200, according to the College Scorecard database of financial aid recipients. After another four years, they’re making $53,600.

To the Ivy-obsessed observer, these earnings may not sound all that special, as alumni salaries for schools like Harvard and Georgetown exceed $90,000. However, when comparing PIA with all 650 institutions on Forbes’ annual Top Colleges ranking of four-year colleges, the top two-year school beats most of its more expensive, more time-intensive Goliaths. PIA would place No. 148 for salaries of alumni six years after starting school and No. 172 ten years after, with both scores beating those of the likes of Michigan State and Wesleyan.

And with only two years of tuition to pay, PIA students rack up less debt—and can start paying it off sooner. PIA is one of the nation’s most expensive nonprofit trade schools, costing the 86% of students who receive financial aid an average of $27,500 a year. Those who take out student loans finish with a median debt of only $14,500, versus the $17,500 shouldered by loan recipients on our Top Colleges list.

“We have a lot of college graduates [in America] coming out who can’t pay their student loans,” says Markle, 42, who has witnessed the PIA’s progression since starting as an instructor 1999. “Here we have this technical school that has a program that is attainable by many that, for the return on investment, is amazing. The job opportunities are so plentiful.”

According to the Department of Labor, the number of aircraft and avionics equipment maintenance technicians required in the U.S. will jump 5% over the next decade, per BLS data. The median pay for the occupation in America is currently $61,260 a year—more than the Census Bureau’s median household income figure of $57,617.

In PIA’s workshops, students like Rich Vance completely take apart and reassemble aircraft engines that can be as large as an SUV.Greg Andersson

Earnings for aviation maintenance technicians will only improve, due to an impending age gap bubbling in the workforce. A 2017 analysis of federal aviation data by the Aviation Technician Education Council suggests that new entrants make up a measly 2% of the field’s workers in the U.S., while almost a third have reached or are nearing retirement age.

Alarmed by this trend, employers are teaming up with aviation programs. Many turn to the historic and well-renowned PIA, which was originally a pilot training and aircraft maintenance outpost for one of Orville Wright’s companies. Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer began a partnership with PIA in March and has already sent recruiters to visit four times since. Delta, PIA’s most well-known partner, is collaborating with over 40 schools to help with marketing, curriculum building, faculty training and resources. According to Delta learning and development director and PIA alum Bill Smith, his alma mater stands out: “They’re one of our very top schools.”

All those hungry employers translate into lots of opportunity. As maintenance student Sam Karol puts it, “You’d have to try to not get a job offer.”

Yet PIA finds recruiting students hard. Between its Pittsburgh main campus and its three branch campuses in Ohio, Maryland and South Carolina, Markle estimates that PIA could house 500 students, yet the school’s full-time enrollment has fluctuated between 250 and 400 over the last ten years. (Due to smart spending, PIA is cash-flow positive and has consistently increased its assets every year since the financial crisis.)

“We have plenty of space to train more students,” Markle says. “Finding our voice has been a recurrent theme. Because we are niche, we don’t get a lot of notice.”

In some ways, PIA’s stalled enrollment is understandable. Aviation maintenance is not for everybody. Technicians often work nights and in cold weather, and the physicality of the job isn’t a good fit for cubicle types. With a second-year retention rate for full-time students lower than most of the top bachelor’s institutions (69% for those who didn’t transfer from another school), PIA sees plenty of dropouts. Many are simply not prepared for the rigors of an elite trade school. Classes run from 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., five days a week, and every minute missed is recorded and must eventually be made up.

“Most of the kids who drop out just aren’t committed,” says Rich Vance, a maintenance student from Baltimore who pivoted to PIA after three years of a banking in Boston. “This prepares you for a real job.”

I am an assistant editor at Forbes, working on projects including the Top Colleges, Top Two-Year Trade Schools and the World's Billionaires. I also work on Forbes' daily Alexa briefing and our Daily Dozen newsletter. I'm a proud New Jersey native, Penn alumnus and New York J...